By Daniel M | November 22, 2019
Ivanka Trump is being widely mocked and accused of hypocrisy this week after she tweeted out a fake quote that was critical of impeachment, claiming it was written by the famed political thinker Alexis de Tocqueville.
“A decline of public morals in the United States will probably be marked by the abuse of the power of impeachment as a means of crushing political adversaries or ejecting them from office,” Ivanka quoted in her tweet, attributing it to “Alexis de Tocqueville, 1835.”
“A decline of public morals in the United States will probably be marked by the abuse of the power of impeachment as a means of crushing political adversaries or ejecting them from office.”
Alexis de Tocqueville, 1835
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) November 21, 2019 [1]
Newsweek reported [2] that journalists and historians alike immediately tried to find this quote in Tocqueville’s works, but they were unable to find it anywhere. It was eventually confirmed that the quote actually came from a book written by John Innes Clark Hare nearly a century after 1835.
In his book, Hare was trying to summarize de Tocqueville’s views when he opposed the unsuccessful impeachment attempt of Andrew Johnson, the 17th President of the United States.
“It was long since remarked by de Tocqueville that a decline of public morals in the United States will probably be marked by the abuse of the power of impeachment as a means of crushing political adversaries or ejecting them from office,” Hare wrote.
The source for this quote, oft repeated, is an 1889 book, not Tocqueville. pic.twitter.com/uJrgMJUs1u [3]
— Fred MacDowell (@onthemainline) November 21, 2019 [4]
Twitter users immediately went after Ivanka for her mistake, with many arguing that her father, President Donald Trump, was in fact responsible for the “decline of public morals” being experienced.
“Trump had affairs with porn stars, ripped off his own charity, pardoned war criminals, is accused of sexual assault and rape, puts children in cages and has lied more than 13,000 times since being in office. Now his daughter is lecturing the public about morals,” one Twitter user wrote.
Trump had affairs with porn stars, ripped off his own charity, pardoned war criminals, is accused of sexual assault and rape, puts children in cages and has lied more than 13,000 times since being in office. Now his daughter is lecturing the public about morals. https://t.co/1zuHIVK7Xr [5]
— Mike Elgan (@MikeElgan) November 21, 2019 [6]
“Your father is the most impeachable figure our country has ever seen and it is YOUR family, the least moral fam. ever to reside in the WH, that is responsible for massive decline in public moral,” another social media user commented.
Your father is the most impeachable figure our country has ever seen and it is YOUR family, the least moral fam. ever to reside in the WH, that is responsible for massive decline in public moral. pic.twitter.com/c4nXlxSHqf [7]
— HeidiO (@heidiotoo) November 22, 2019 [8]
‘Decline of public morals?” ARE YOU SERIOUS?https://t.co/mcsWbDCJZ2 [9]
— Anne McCarthy (@AM_McCarthy) November 21, 2019 [10]
Ivanka has yet to delete her tweet or correct it in any way.
This piece originally appeared in the Objectivist [11] and is used by permission.
Read more at Objectivist.co:
Tim Allen Takes on Ladies of ‘The View’ – Tears into Political Correctness [12]
Melania Trump Suffers Terrifying Health Scare [13]
Melania Trump And Ivanka Trump Engaged In Bitter Feud, New Book Alleges [14]